Airline power grab

[Johnny_L.A]

MPSIMS? Yeah, this is probably of interest only to Doper pilots.

IMHO? That too, since I have an opinion.

Great Debate? Maybe, but I don’t think it will be a great debate.

The airlines come out of the closet

In recent testimony, ATA told Congress it “must impose a schedule of mandatory user charges.” It sure seems a little odd to me that an industry, which has proven in recent years that it can’t even run its own businesses, is telling Congress what it “must” do…

The biggest concern to me in the ATA proposal is the blatant power grab. The airlines want Congress to remove itself from its role as the “board of directors” of the national airspace system. Control would shift to what the ATA calls “a reformed administrative structure” with “governance proportional to the extent of each user category’s financial contribution.” In other words, the airlines!

I agree with Mr. Boyer. With the controversies surrounding Halliburton, Enron, Big Oil, et al. I think we should learn a lesson about letting corporations have too much power in government. We are supposed to have a government ‘for, by, and of the People’ – not just rich people, or corporations. The FAA has done a good job over the years. They generally treat everyone with equality (within the needs of the users). We should not let one ‘elite’ group of users take control. Especially given the bankruptcies that have occured, and continue to occur, in the airline industry.

[ElvisL1ves]

Since all I know about it is what Boyer says (I’m an AOPA member too), I have to agree too. But does ATA have a public statement we can link to directly, in case of overselective quoting?

[Johnny_L.A]

@ElvisL1ves

But does ATA have a public statement we can link to directly, in case of overselective quoting?

This seems to be it. They do make some good points. But:

7.        A reformed administrative structure, providing for a direct role in governance proportional to the extent of each user category's financial contribution to the operation, maintenance and enhancement of the national airspace system.
   

This sounds too much like ‘we make the rules, since we have the most money’ to me. In matters of government regulations, I think that all users should have an equal say.